Arlington High softball can't catch Burlington

Friday

May 9, 2014 at 11:32 AMMay 9, 2014 at 11:32 AM

By Doug Hastingsdhastings@wickedlocal.com

It was supposed to be a meeting between the only two pitchers that defeated Liberty Division-leading Lexington this season when the high school softball teams from Burlington, the Freedom Division frontrunners, and Arlington faced off at Arlington High on Wednesday.That’s what it was supposed to be.While neither Jillian Ghio of Burlington, who is out with mononucleosis, and Mary Pieroni of Arlington, who was manning third base for the Spy Ponders, took to the mound that day, the squads still hooked up for an entertaining battle at AHS.In the end, Burlington and pitcher Sam Gibson were just a little bit better than Arlington and junior hurler Melanie DeAlmeida, 8-3.Burlington scored all of its runs behind two four-run innings.In the first, Nikki Gass reached on an infield hit with one out and Gibson then drew a walk. A double by Kaela Hersee made it 1-0 before Krista Toscano’s triple over third base scored pinch-running Adriana Berardi and Hersee for a 3-0 lead. Nicole Scola, running for Toscano, scored on a passed ball.In the fifth, the Red Devils blew the game open.A walk to Gibson and a single by Hersee set the table for Toscano, who reached on an error, a play that scored Berardi. A throwing error by the Spy Ponders Gillian Daly’s sacrifice bunt plated Hersee and a third error on Kayla Sheldon’s ground ball brought home Scola to make it 7-0. Hannah Miksenas drove in the eighth run when her ground ball plated Daly.BHS managed only one hit in the inning.The Spy Ponders scored twice in the sixth with a two-out rally. Junior Roxy Vento clubbed a double to left before Pieroni brought her home with a two-run home run to left. The homer was accompanied by a light moment as Miksenas, the BHS left fielder, got tangled up in Arlington’s plastic fence and couldn’t actually find the ball until Pieroni was rounding third. The play came moments after Miksenas record the second out of the inning with a nice running catch on a liner by Michaela Farmer of Arlington.In its last at-bat, Arlington scored again.Senior Ellie Parravano walked with two outs and senior Emily Hart cracked a single to left. Senior Anna Smokovich then made it 8-3 with a hard double. With runners on second and third, Farmer nearly drove in two more runs, but her shot to right was snagged by Devil outfielderOn the day, Burlington flashed its usual defense.Toscano had a memorable day behind home plate. In the third, she ended the frame by throwing out the speedy Smokovich with a throw from her knees. In the seventh, she caught AHS junior Diana Jamgochian leaning off of first base and threw her out for out No. 2. The play ended up being important as the next three Arlington batters reached base safely including the Smokovich double.Other standouts included Sheldon at shortstop, Kristyna Flaherty at third base and April Adams in center field. Daly was also steady at first base.Aside from the disastrous fifth frame, Arlington’s defense was steady too.Smokovich made a nice catch in center field in the second and senior Maggie Tarantino came through with a terrific play in right, scooping a single by Gibson and firing a laser to Vento behind the plate. Vento tagged out Adams at home and then fired to second base to erase Gibson for an inning-ending 9-2-4 double play.Also making outstanding fielding plays for Arlington was DeAlmeida on the mound, Pieroni at third, Jamgochian at second and Farmer at short. Hart also made a nice catch in left field to end the Burlington seventh.